Started 5th of Feb…to be posted as soon as I got internet again!.....

So here I am sat on a my balcony overlooking the sea, I can literally touch the ocean from here and this has been my dream for most of my travels, to find a hut, on the beach where I can open my bedroom door and wake up to the sea in the morning.

Im on the Tioman Island which is in Malaysia and it is probably the most untouched place Ive come to and its really been by accident. It wasn't on my itinerary and Id never heard of it until a couple of months ago when I saw a poster in a hostel asking for volunteers to come and work at a Turtle sanctuary.

Before I came travelling I really wanted part of my trip to be about charity work and to give something back (oh the cliché) but I also wanted to live in a community as well as work somewhere that was completely different to anything Id done before, you never know where things are going to lead.

I arrived here 2 weeks ago and had to take a tiny plane to the island, I nearly s*** myself when it nosedived in to a mountain, turns out that's the only way to get to the run way!

I was met by Charlie who has been running the sanctuary for over 4 years. Now in my mind Id imagined a hot island where I would be collecting eggs everyday and 'saving turtles' and there would be a commune with bonfires and guitar playing and people with dreadlocks smoking grass. Well the first surprise was that its not Turtle hatching season….so no Turtles, plus I was the only volunteer (turns out no one else comes in Monsoon season) and the sanctuary was on an isolated part of the island with……no internet….deep breath, deep breath. Hey before you become so judgmental its actually harder than you think being cut off from the outside world not being able to check how my flat is, or contacting family or erm being on Facebook…but I was determined to give it a try and this was a whole new experience.

So although it was quiet I still had my daily tasks of raking, feeding Jo a blind turtle who had been saved at birth, talking to tourists who come to visit and painting. Although I was busy it gave me a lot of time to reflect and take in what was going on around me. I found myself taking pleasure in the smallest of things such as photographing butterflies, playing with Jasmine the pregnant cat (who also snuck in and slept on my head most nights). Walking along the beach and collecting rubbish was also a pleasure but most of all I enjoyed walking though the forest.

However the most pleasure I got was from meeting new people, the community here is amazing and everyone knows who you are. Within a few days all the locals knew me and knew I was working at the sanctuary. Just walking down the road saying hello to everyone made me feel like a new celebrity. But actually this is the norm here and talking to people in the street isn't a premeditate form of attack like London.

The tourists were also lovely I was touched by the amount of thanks I received. People wanted to take photos of me with their kids and one guy actually blessed me! People from all over the world came to visit. Most people know that Turtles are going extinct and if it wasn't for the small efforts of people around the world like Charlie Turtles would be gone in 50 years.

So I ended my trip on the Tioman on ABC beach which is on the other side of the island, it has a bit more life to it but still only about 200 tourists are here so its still quite. I did a dive yesterday and saw a banded sea snake and a cuttlefish which is actually amazing to see…may think twice before I eat it again ;)

So Im off to Bangkok tomorrow and slightly nervous of going in to such a big city. But Im on to my next adventure but not quite sure what this will be as I don't think Im going to go to Laos now due to malaria concerns Vs taking the tablets but ill keep you posted.

Take care, I miss you…..but Im home in 3.5 weeks….not long to go now…

J x